No Hypnosis Needed
by SewingUpMyWounds
Summary: She's handled psychotic men before on the job, but never one with hypnotic pull. Will a few good dates be enough to draw her in, or will she find out about who he really is and try to run? [This is a re-write of the original. The new content begins after Chapter 5.]
1. Chapter 1: The Hypnotist

Chapter One: The Hypnotist

* * *

"Oh, c'mon, you said we could do anything for my birthday!"

"I said I'll go, I just figured you'd pick something like going to a buffet or a coffee shop."

"Okay, but you keep complaining."

Charlotte groaned. She never liked going out and Roxanne knew it. Unfortunately, when you promise to go anywhere with someone, you should probably be prepared to really go anywhere, be it a thrift shop or a live-action Magic Mike show. She finished up her eye makeup and walked over to her closet. "I know, I know, I just don't like going to clubs," she said, rummaging for something to wear, "…and you know I'm not into magicians."

"First of all, it's not just _any_ club, it's _the_ club everyone who's anyone goes to. Secondly, he's a hypnotist, not a magician," Roxanne insisted, pinning her perfect red curls into a cute up-do.

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "It's the same thing…magician with helpers, whatever."

Roxanne stopped fixing her hair and turned, pouting. "Could you, like, _not_ be a downer for two seconds? Maybe you'll have fun." She was visibly getting fed up.

Charlotte turned around, holding two dresses. "Look, I'm sorry. You know I'm just anti-social and am being a whiny bitch. I've always been nervous at clubs."

"Yeah, but you're _my_ whiny bitch, and I wouldn't want to go with anyone else!" Roxanne laughed. "You're my best friend, you have to go do things with me like dance like an idiot at a club on my birthday."

"Kill me now," Charlotte joked, "Now which one?" she asked, holding up a black sparkly gown with a silver shawl and a white blouse with a black pencil skirt.

Roxanne looked back and forth between the two, "The dress, the other outfit looks like you're trying to be a sexy librarian or substitute teacher…unless that's the look you want."

Charlotte laughed and threw a pillow at her, "Yeah, because I totally want to pick up some college boys tonight!" She walked into her bathroom, took off her robe, and slipped into the dress. She stepped back and looked into the full-length mirror hanging on the door. The dress was down to her ankles and had a slit up both sides all the way up the thighs. The sleeves were three-quarter length and fell off of her shoulders. She couldn't help but smile. She never thought of herself as pretty, but she knew she wasn't plain and average, either. Tonight, she felt pretty. Walking out of the bathroom, she said, "Okay, I hate to admit it, but I actually like dressing up."

Roxanne turned around and squealed, "You look so amazing! All the guys will be trying to talk to you!"

Charlotte smiled at her feet and muttered, "Oh god, I hope not…but thanks, Roxie." She always knew that Roxanne was the pretty one. She was in middle school, high school, college, and still continued to be. Normally, she would envy girls for being prettier than herself, but Roxanne was always so nice and didn't make her feel less pretty.

"I'm ready if you are," Roxanne said, "I just need to grab my purse and we're good to go!"

Charlotte nodded, slipping into a pair of silver heels, "Yeah, I think I'm good. Let's head out." She grabbed her small crossbody bag, threw her overdramatic shawl around her shoulders, and walked to the door.

* * *

Their cab driver gushed over them, pouring on the compliments. As per usual, Roxanne ate up the attention and Charlotte just scoffed at every lame attempt from the cab driver to get laid. She had dated a few guys in college, but never understood the joys of dating and hookups like Roxanne did. She never minded Roxanne's lifestyle until she came home late from work to Roxanne and some guy trying to get frisky in the living room. They'd since made a rule that all hookups _had_ to be at the guy's house or when Charlotte went out of town for work.

Roxanne's killer smile and excessive push-ups bras definitely came in handy when it came to free drinks and cab rides. After pouting her bright red lips and saying, "C'mooonnnn, it's my birthday," the cab driver quickly agreed to waiving the fee for the ride. Roxanne leaned into the front seat, kissed him on the cheek, and got out.

Charlotte followed, in awe. "Your high-pitched voice, that adorably forced Queens accent, and your insane confidence have probably saved me hundreds by now," she laughed.

Roxanne winked and the two headed inside. They packed into an elevator with a few other upper-class people. Charlotte was already feeling out of place and cramped. When they got to the top, she felt relief wash over her. They all got out and headed towards the door of the club. A neon-lit "Sirens" sign was mounted above the doors. The music was blaring, and it was almost too loud to hear specific surrounding conversations.

When they finally got up to the door, Roxanne, of course, went on about how it was her birthday and asked if there was any way she could get in free. The doorman called over a beautiful blonde woman who praised Roxanne's look and waived her fee.

"What about my friend?" Roxanne asked, motioning to Charlotte.

The blonde looked Charlotte up and down, "Sorry. Only have enough leeway for one."

"Bitch," Charlotte whispered to herself, and handed a $10 bill to the doorman. She shoved past both Roxanne and the blonde woman, making a direct line for an open spot at the bar. Roxanne quickly rushed after her.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Charlotte was already ordering a drink, "Nothing, just that I got blown off by the manager. I mean, seriously? Did you see the way she looked at me? Sorry I can't afford Prada, damn."

"She's the owner," Roxanne replied, "Don't take it personally, she just—"

"Forget it, Rox, just go dance," Charlotte said.

Roxanne stormed off, but quickly found a couple of guys who fawned over her. She never did understand what it felt like to be the odd one out. Charlotte got her drink and downed it quickly. She wasn't a drinker, but definitely needed some liquid courage to make it through the night. She looked around and immediately started to feel self-conscious. In a room full of people who look like models, even a natural beauty could feel like trash. She pulled her shawl further up on her shoulders and immediately regretted something that showed off her legs so much. "I'll take another one," she said to the bartender.

The champagne didn't feel like it was doing much. A man tried to buy her another drink, but she blew him off. She just wanted to go home or be left alone. A numb feeling came over her, and the music turned more into a loud ringing in her ear as she began to think about her job and more practical things rather than enjoying the scene like everyone around her.

Her thoughts got cut short when the music suddenly faded to a stop. A spotlight dropped onto the stage, and the blonde from before stepped up to the microphone, "Thank you all so much for coming out tonight. We love each and every one of you. When I started…"

Charlotte groaned, looking away and whispering to herself, "Oh, please, you love whoever seems to draw the most attention."

"…and back by popular request, Jervis Tetch!"

The crowd clapped and Charlotte downed the last of her drink. "Can you save my spot?" she asked the bartender, sliding him some cash. He nodded and smiled, so she got up and walked to the restroom.

* * *

She looked into the mirror and wiped her lipstick off. _In a room full of fakes, I'd rather not blend in as one._ She pulled her hair down and let the waves fall past her shoulders. After sitting on the counter for a good 15 minutes, contemplating leaving, curiosity got the best of her. _While you're here, you might as well at least try to enjoy the show. It could be a good distraction._

She returned to her seat, setting her elbow on the bar, and rested her head on her hand.

"Have you seen him before?" the bartender asked.

"Me? No," Charlotte said, swiveling in her seat to face the bartender, "I'm not into this sort of stuff…"

The bartender shrugged, "I wasn't either until I saw him. He might surprise you."

Charlotte leaned across the bar to try to get a better view of him. He had the blonde woman up on stage.

"Look into my eyes. Not around them…not above them…but into their center. Now sleep." He turned to the crowd, "Now. What would we like to see the lovely Miss Kean do? Physical feats? A trip into her psyche?"

"She said we needed more whimsy," a woman at the front of the bar shouted out.

The hypnotist smirked, "Barbara…when I count down from three, you will find me irresistible. You will be madly in love with me." He turned to see the crowd's reaction, smiling, then turned back to Barbara, "Three…two…one."

Barbara opened her eyes suddenly.

"Barbara…do you care for me?" the hypnotist asked.

Barbara turned towards him and replied, "Oh yes," before walking towards him.

He followed up with, "Do you love me?"

"Very much," Barbara said, trying to kiss him.

 _Great, he makes women fall for him_.

"But…what if I can't feel the same?" he asked, "What if I love another? I'm sorry, Barbara, my dear, but—"

She cut him off by breaking a guest's glass and quickly holding it up to his throat.

Charlotte gasped, along with most of the crowd.

The hypnotist quickly said, "Three, two, one, awake."

The woman at the front of the bar rushed up to Barbara, said something quietly, then turned to the crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen, the great Jervis Tetch!"

As the crowd applauded, Charlotte nodded. "Not bad," she said to the bartender, "Barbara must be a pretty good actress."

"While that may be true, you should've seen what he did the other night. A man stood up on the top of a chair…and I mean the _top_ as in the _back_ of a chair…" the bartender insisted, "…it was like the guy was floating. He must be the real deal."

Charlotte looked over as Jervis walked over to a man then left. _Interesting._

* * *

Roxanne walked up and put a hand on Charlotte's arm, making her jump. "Where were you? I got to go up on stage, but I didn't see you at the bar."

"Oh, I just felt sick for a sec and decided to step out," Charlotte lied, "So what did he make you do? Fall in love?"

Roxanne laughed, "No, I actually don't even remember! According to that hottie in the corner I've been talking to, he made me divulge some college secrets and everyone thought it was hilarious."

Charlotte looked over at the man she was talking about, "You can go back to talking to him if you want."

"I will here in a minute, I just wanted to make sure we're okay," Roxanne said sincerely, "I hate it when we fight."

Charlotte smiled, "Yeah, we're good. It hasn't been as dreadful as I expected, but I still hate that Barbara chick."

Roxanne shook her head smiling, "Of course you do. Hey, is it cool if I go to Mr. McHottie's house for, um, _drinks_ later?"

"Well, I won't get a free ride home if you leave me, but fine," Charlotte said, winking, "I hope you enjoy your… _drinks_. You deserve whatever you want on your birthday."

Roxanne thanked her, said a quick goodbye, and went back to the man in the corner. While Charlotte was going to let it slide since it was Roxanne's birthday, she wasn't thrilled that she was always getting ditched for some guy. It'd always be a guy she'd see Roxanne fawn over for a couple of weeks before moving on to the next one.

 _I guess I can leave now._ Charlotte tipped the bartender, thanking him again for saving her spot earlier, and headed towards the door, ducking her head to avoid having to talk to anyone on the way out. Right when she rounded the corner to get to the elevators she ran into someone and got knocked back. A man caught her hands and let out a light laugh, "In a hurry, are we?"

"Sorry, I just—" she looked up and froze, speechless. It was the hypnotist.

* * *

Author's Note / Introduction: This is a story I posted last year and deleted. I wanted to re-write it to make it more accurate and overall better-written. I didn't like a few of the chapters I had written before, so I'm changing some things. Just a few things to help make reading my story a little easier: When I put in a line-break, that's meant to be where a "commercial break" sort of moment would be for the show. It's either to pass time or be seen almost like a dramatic moment. When something is italicized but not in quotations, it's a thought that Charlotte is having. When something is italicized but is in quotations, the word is meant to be read as drawn out and/or sarcastic. If a word is bold, it's meant to be emphasized when read. I try to write in a way where you can really visualize and hear these characters saying and doing these things. I try to keep everyone as in-character as possible. I'd prefer the comments to stay vague, spoiler-free, and positive...so please send criticism, questions, or suggestions to me in a private message. I hope you all enjoy my story! Make sure to check out another Gotham story of mine, Different Demeanor, Same Heartbeat. It's another one I wrote, deleted, and am now reworking, but it's about Victor Zsasz. Much love to you all!


	2. Chapter 2: A Formal Invitation

He smiled, "I was on my way out as well."

Her face turned bright red as she quickly pulled her hands back. He was well-dressed and a lot more attractive up-close. She readjusted her shawl and tried to collect her thoughts, "Yeah, um…clubs aren't really my thing, so…"

"Did you at least enjoy the show?" he asked.

She anxiously looked towards the elevator doors, "I only watched the end of it. It's nothing against you, personally, I'm just a skeptic of magicians, or hypnotists, or whatever. It was impressive, but...I don't know."

The doors opened, and Jervis extended his arm, "After you."

She stepped in and he followed.

When the doors closed, he turned towards her, "How rude of me, I have yet to introduce myself formally."

"You're fine," Charlotte said, trying to avoid eye-contact with him, "I know your name by now." She hesitated – _You're being a bitch, Charlotte._ – then turned and extended her hand, "I'm Charlotte."

"What a lovely, lovely name. For the sake of formalities…my name is Jervis." He took her hand and leaned down to kiss it.

She pulled her hand away before he could and felt her face turn red once again. "Pleasure," she said sarcastically. The elevator doors opened, and she quickly walked out and towards the exit.

He looked down and let out a small laugh before looking back up, watching her walk away. "So why don't you like hypnotists?" he called after her.

Not in the mood for conversation, she just turned and sighed, "I didn't say I didn't _like_ them…I just don't really believe in magic. I know there's a trick to everything."

"Well, you see, my dear, it's not magic. It's hypnosis…" when he didn't get a reaction, he continued, "…and I'm so confident in my skill that I'd be willing to give you a private session."

Charlotte laughed, walking towards him, "Yeah? Is that your cheesy way of asking me out? It'd be the first time I've heard that one before, but seriously?" When he looked more confused than anything, her smile dropped. "Oh god, I'm sorry. That sounded so narcissistic…shit…I'm sorry. I normally don't drink, and I had a couple glasses, and—"

"Relax," he said, calmly, "we all divulge how we feel one way or another. Some require hypnosis…others, drinks. You must have been hit on a few times tonight, so…it's a normal assumption."

"I'm just not used to talking to people," she said. When she didn't hear a response, she looked up and locked eyes with him.

He licked his lips and smiled slightly, "How about a demonstration?"

"What?" she asked.

He repeated himself, "A demonstration. Right here. Right now."

When he pulled out his watch, Charlotte folded her arms, "After what I saw Barbara do and heard my friend did? Riiiight…you don't need to learn about how embarrassing I am deep down the first time you've ever even met me."

"Oh? So there will be a next time?" he said, tucking his watch away. Before she could say anything, he continued with, "How about next Friday night at eight? I will be doing another show at the Sirens club. I would love to see you there."

"Look, I don't—"

"Allow me to rephrase," he interrupted, "I insist you come."

She sighed, "Fine. If I don't have any plans, I might show, but you have to make sure blondie lets me in for free."

"If she says no, I'll see to it that she says yes," he said, placing one hand over where he put his watch.

Charlotte couldn't help but smirk, "Gotcha…well…I better head home. My roommate ditched me, and I don't want to be out too late." She started to inch her way towards the door, "I'm not a huge fan of walking home around the same time people are getting out of bars, drunk."

"Allow me to walk you home," he said, slowly towards her.

"Look, it's a few blocks away, and I doubt you want to walk that f—"

"Again, I insist," he said, sliding in front of her and opening the door, "I may have just moved to Gotham, but I've already heard of its…strange inhabitants."

Whether she liked it or not, she knew he was right. Chancing walking alone with a stranger was better than chancing walking home alone, especially on the weekend. She let out a small, "Thanks," then walked out.

The first few minutes were silent, but not uncomfortably. Charlotte looked over at Jervis, then quickly looked away when he caught her staring. Trying not to seem weird, she stuttered out, "S-So, um…Why'd you move to Gotham?"

"I came to visit my sister…" he said, appearing slightly flustered, "…but my life isn't that interesting, truly. How long have you lived here?"

"Just a couple of years. I met my now-roommate when I was completing my Bachelor's at Syracuse. How she got in in the first place is honestly beyond me. She got kicked out, so I stopped living on-campus and started rooming with her. I went on to med school afterwards, then we decided to move to Gotham to look for work. While I was finishing up my Doctorate, she had a hard time getting a job in the area, so we decided a fresh start might be nice."

"If you don't mind me asking, what do you do?" he asked, "Obviously you know what I do. It pays pretty well to work in higher-end areas and large cities like Gotham."

She shrugged, "I mean…I've just been doing work from home since we moved here, so I guess you could say I'm still searching. I'm a licensed psychiatrist, so I've considered opening a private practice up. It just costs quite a bit to get started, ya know?"

"I assume money will no longer be a problem in the future," he nodded, "It's a well-paying field I hear. I've met many doctors, lawyers, and so on through my work. Many have let me into their homes."

She stopped, surprised, "Wait, what?"

"Oh, simply a figure of speech," he said, continuing to walk.

 _Okay..? Whatever that means._ She caught up with him and the conversation was once again silent.

"We're almost there," she said pointing for Jervis to turn with her, "Just another block."

"I tend to walk most places I go," he replied, "It's a nice night."

She looked up where stars might be if the pollution didn't cloud the sky, "Yeah, but…I wish the sky weren't always so…brownish-grey."

"You know, only about fifteen or twenty miles north of here, there are a lot of open fields. When I was travelling down here, I stayed at a quaint motel and stared at stars on the balcony," He raised his hand up and slowly moved it back and forth, "All of it…completely covered. It was as if the stars took up more space than the darkness."

"That sounds incredible. Back when I was in high school, I used to drive around a lot at night, just to get away from everything. Sometimes I used to wish I liked partying or drinking so I wouldn't be alone, driving around on a Friday night, but…" she shook her head and laughed, "…I don't even know why I just told you that."

He smiled and continued asking questions for the rest of their time together. The walk home was surprisingly a lot less painful than Charlotte expected. She was so used to Roxanne getting the attention everywhere they went that she'd forgotten how amazing it was to feel like she mattered. Jervis seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say and listened attentively. When they got to her apartment complex, he opened the main door for her and walked her to her room.

"Well, this is it," Charlotte said, pointing at her door, "Thank you for walking me home. I enjoyed talking to you."

He smiled and nodded, "The feelings are mutual."

"I'd invite you in for coffee or something, but…the place is kind of a wreck and I don't want you to have to go home any later," she said, looking down the hallway.

"That's quite alright," he said, "I'm more of a tea person anyway."

They both stood there for a moment before Charlotte looked over at him, "Well...I know a pretty good café down the street…if you…want to go sometime?"

He leaned forward and teased, "Is that your _cheesy_ way of asking me out?"

She laughed and hid her face in her hands, "Do _not_ make fun of me! I already apologized for that!"

"Yes, I would like that. When are you available?" he asked.

 _I never have plans. I'm free tomorrow, even._ She didn't want to sound desperate, so she instead asked, "How does Monday at sevenish sound?"

"Perfect," he nodded, "Monday it is. I can come pick you up."

The two locked eyes for a minute until Charlotte finally said, "Well…I don't want to keep you any longer, but I really do appreciate that you walked me home. I guess I'll say goodnight now." she stuck out her hand to shake his, "Goodnight, Jervis."

He leaned down to gently kiss her hand, and looked up at her, "Goodnight, Charlotte."

This time she didn't pull away.

After shutting the door, she leaned against the back of it, and slid down to the ground. That was the most enjoyable time she'd had in a while with anyone. She couldn't help but feel a strange connection with Jervis but tried to remind herself that she had only met him once. No matter how much she tried to calm herself down, her heart continued to pound.

She got up and walked to her room. It was nice when Roxanne stayed over with a guy, because she had the whole place to herself and could finally go to sleep early. Roxanne always kept her up at night wanting to chat and, as much as Charlotte enjoyed hanging out with her, she enjoyed getting a lot of sleep even more. After stripping down to her underwear, she threw herself onto the bed.

Her vanity was still covered in makeup. While she normally tried to keep her room tidy, all she wanted to do was think about her walk home and get a lot of much-needed rest. She curled up under the sheets and couldn't help but smile to herself.

Right when she was about to fall asleep, Roxanne came in, rambling on about how the guy she met failed to mention he had a girlfriend. Charlotte hid her head under her pillow and groaned as Roxanne walked in and turned on the light. She told Roxanne to let her get dressed and said that she'd be in the living room in a second to talk. _So much for sleep._

After calming down about the "douchebag" she'd encountered, Roxanne couldn't help but notice that Charlotte wasn't complaining with her. "What's wrong with you, didn't ya hate tonight? You never pass up the opportunity to bitch with me."

"Hmm?" Charlotte said, clearly falling back asleep, "Oh, um, yeah, tonight totally sucked, it was the worst."

Roxanne lightly hit her with a pillow, causing her to jump. "Where's my best friend? What have you done with her?"

Charlotte sat up and laughed, "Honestly, Rox? It was fine. I expected it to be worse, but it was fine."

"Oh yeah?" Roxanne said, skeptically.

"Yeah, I danced a bit after you left and took some shots at the bar. It was cool," Charlotte said.

Roxanne slowly smiled, "You are _such_ a dirty little liar! I _saw_ you leave before I did. Now I **really** want to know what happened!"

"Okay, maybe I didn't stay and dance, but...yeah…" Charlotte trailed off.

Roxanne gave shook Charlotte's arm, "Go oooonnnnn! I know that can't be all!"

Charlotte got up and headed back to her room, "Look, I need to get some sleep, I have work to do in the morning, my room needs cleaned, I have to—"

"Blah blah blah, just know I will find out," Roxanne said, winking.

"Whatever, Miss Roxanne-the-Man-Stealing-Birthday-Bitch," Charlotte said, closing her door.

She heard Roxanne laugh out, "Screw you!"

Charlotte stripped down again and crawled back into her freshly-cold bed. She looked at the clock. 3:21AM. _Damn, Roxie loves to talk._ She was dreading facing Roxanne the next morning for an interrogation. If Charlotte ever even _talked_ to a guy, she'd get interrogated by Roxanne, who always pushed for Charlotte to get back into the dating pool. Once, Roxanne bothered a poor cashier because he and Charlotte struck up a conversation about music venues in town. There's a reason she'd given up making male friends and bringing them around to hang out. She knew if Roxanne found out the truth that she'd never hear the end of it, so she started thinking of funny lies to tell before quickly falling asleep.

The next morning Charlotte woke up to her light being turned on and Roxanne's loud voice squealing, "I toldya you're a liar!"

"Out. Give me five minutes, c'mon," Charlotte said, stretching out. Roxanne rolled her eyes and skipped out.

Charlotte wiped the leftover makeup off of her eyes and threw on her robe. After tidying up her room for a couple of minutes, she realized she couldn't stall any longer when Roxanne yelled from the kitchen, "You have 30 seconds!"

She lazily walked into the kitchen and grabbed a box of cereal. "Literally what do you want that's so important that it couldn't have waited until I woke up?"

Roxanne was making pancakes and had her back turned to Charlotte when she said, "Oh, darling, I thought you'd never ask!"

Charlotte squinted at the back of Roxanne's head, concerned, "K..?"

"So, I woke up early, you see. I ended up passin' out on the couch, and I heard footsteps at the door…" Roxanne paused for suspense, as she often liked to do when telling a juicy story.

"Go on, go on…" Charlotte said, feeling even more concerned.

Roxanne continued, "…so I thought to myself, huh, that's weird, and I got up to go see who it was. I figured, hey, maybe the newspaper man was here early, but no. When I opened the door, no newspaper, no person…"

"Oh my god, just spit it out!" Charlotte said, fake yawning, "You're boring me to death!"

Roxanne turned around and grabbed something behind her back. Grinning, she said, "…but then I noticed something had fallen that was stuck in the door…"

"Oh jeez…" Charlotte muttered, "Here we go...What? Did another neighbor leave a note bitching about how loud you are when you wake up your best friend in the middle of the night?"

Roxanne cleared her throat dramatically, and pulled an envelope from behind her back, "Dear Charlotte, last night I—"

"OH MY GOD, NO!" Charlotte yelled, running over to Roxanne.

Roxanne ran into the living room shouting, "—I had such a wonderful time talking to you—"

"NO! NONONO! DUDE, STOP, SERIOUSLY, YOU CAN'T READ THAT!"

"—and it was truly my pleasure to get take you home." Roxanne ran into the bathroom to hide from Charlotte and locked herself in. Charlotte pounded on the door in protest.

Roxanne laughed then drawled on in a sing-songy voice, "I hope to see you again soon and wanted to formally solidify our plans for Monday!"

"I'M LITERALLY GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"Consider this a formal invitation for Friday as well. I look forward to it. Yours truly, Jervis." Roxanne slowly opened the door, grinning ear-to-ear and holding up the letter.

Charlotte snatched it out of her hands and stormed into the kitchen, "I hate you so much."

"AWWW, you're going on a date with the hottie hypnotist! That's so cute!" Roxanne gushed.

Charlotte sulked, "It's _not_ a date and _please_ , for the love of _God_ , don't call him that."

"Oh, don't get jealous, I won't go for him," Roxanne said, "Besides, he clearly is interested if he walked you home."

"I'm _not_ jealous and he was just being nice! You know it's dangerous to walk alone around here. I told him about one of the cafes we like, and we decided to go. That's it," Charlotte insisted.

Roxanne smirked, "Uh-huh, little miss I'm-not-into-magicians."

Charlotte buried her face into her hands, "Stooopppp."

"And what about Friday, huh?" Roxanne asked, "I'm guessing you'll be at his next show?"

"Leave me alone!" Charlotte said, looking up, "He's talented and just walked me home, okay? If you play nice, I'll let you come Friday."

Roxanne smiled, clearly satisfied with herself, and went back to making breakfast.


	3. Chapter 3: I'm Not Scared

"Please just don't say anything weird this time," Charlotte said, messing with her hair in the mirror.

Roxanne stopped rummaging through her makeup bag and looked up, "What do you mean _this_ time?"

Charlotte scoffed and turned, "Literally the last time I tried to hang out with a nice man, you ran him off. Derek was just trying to show me a novelty store a few streets down, but you just _had_ to turn it into a big deal."

"He was weird, anyway, you should thank me," Roxanne said.

Charlotte groaned, "I think the points I try to make fly straight over your head sometimes. We weren't trying to date each other. We were just hanging out."

Ignoring her, Roxanne asked, "Are you sure you don't want to wear something more formal?"

"I told you, this isn't a big deal, we're just grabbing drinks and maybe a bite to eat," Charlotte insisted, "Just because you can't have normal interactions with men doesn't mean I can't." She looked in the mirror and examined her clothes, now feeling more self-conscious. Her slacks and blouse looked fine to her, but Roxanne always found a way to make her concerned without meaning to.

"Alright, alright," Roxanne whined, "Call it whatever you want, but we _both_ know you of all people going to get coffee with a stranger or, better yet, a stranger who's a hypnotist is _not_ a normal interaction for you."

An organized, firm knock hit the door three times. The two looked at each other quickly.

Charlotte looked down at her feet then back at Roxanne, "I have to find my boots in the closet. Can I trust you to not make me look like an idiot?"

Roxanne just smiled widely and left Charlotte's room, leaving the door open a crack. Charlotte hurried around in her closet trying to find the left shoe to her pair as she heard the door open. She frantically pulled on both shoes and tied them up. After stumbling out of her room, she locked eyes with Jervis.

He stopped mid-sentence with Roxanne and smiled. Charlotte felt her heart begin to pound. She took a subtle, deep breath and walked towards them.

"I hope Roxie hasn't scared you off yet," she said, anxiously.

"No, not at all, she was just offering to tell me more about you sometime," he said.

Charlotte nervously laughed, "Yeeeah, I don't think so. You already know how to make people talk as-is, apparently."

"What?" Roxanne asked, "I just think he'd love to know more about your glowing personality!"

After shooting Roxanne a dirty look, Charlotte turned to Jervis, "So are you ready to head out?"

Jervis nodded, "Of course. Whenever you are."

"Aww, have fun you two!" Roxanne said.

Charlotte grabbed a coat, shoved past her, and lead Jervis out of their apartment.

When Roxanne shut the door, she turned to him and said, "I'm so sorry about that, she can be a bit over-the-top, and gets excited around guests."

"That's quite alright. I speak to people under hypnosis for a living, so I'm used to odd interactions. Do you have guests over often?" he asked.

Charlotte shoved her hands in her pockets, "No, not at all. I'm very anti-social and don't enjoy talking to people. Anytime Roxanne brings people over, they tend to be obnoxiously loud and extremely disrespectful. I stay in my room anytime she brings a date over. She's supposed to not bring people home, but it happens all too often."

"Anti-social? It didn't seem to take much persuasion to get you to talk to me," Jervis said, looking forward.

"No, no! Not you, I wasn't talking about you! That came out wrong. I don't enjoy talking to _most_ people," she said, "I don't feel like most people even care about what I have to say."

Jervis nodded, "That must mean you know I was listening to every word you said two night ago."

Charlotte looked down, "Yeah…exactly…I wouldn't mind having you over."

"With your roommate there?" Jervis asked.

"Absolutely not," Charlotte laughed, "I don't need you to see old photos of me and hear about every embarrassing date I've ever been on."

"That does sound interesting," Jervis said, "What does it take for you to consider a person a date?"

"Umm…" Charlotte blushed, "…well, I mean…I guess just…I don't know. When someone actually takes romantic interest in me and wants to do something. I clearly haven't been on one lately or I wouldn't be this illiterate with my standards."

Jervis looked at her, "That's surprising."

Charlotte felt goosebumps cover her body, but when she looked up, all she could say was, "Oh! Um, we're here."

Jervis turned onto the shopping strip and opened the door to the café for Charlotte. After finding a quiet table in the corner, he sat across from her.

"I wish you would've told me that you were going to dress so nice," Charlotte said, "I would've tried harder." She secretly felt embarrassed because she thought she looked alright for business-casual. Unfortunately, a matching suit and vest would always top anything she owned.

"This is just how I dress every day," he said, "I think you look perfect for an evening out."

 _Why does everything he says have to sound so charming?_

A waiter walked up and asked for their orders and they both decided on the same new drink to try.

"So, you said you moved here recently?" Charlotte asked, "If I remember correctly, it was for your sister, right?"

"Yes, but I move around often. I came in from up north." he said.

She tilted her head slightly, "Why here? You should know Gotham is renowned for its…problems. Why not just visit for a bit?"

"I was looking to reconnect…" he said, looking away, "…and I know all about the extravagant and eccentric people that inhabit Gotham, but I don't mind. I'm very experienced in handling people."

"I'd imagine so," she laughed, "You sound like quite the mastermind."

He smirked, "That's a word for my…talent."

The waiter returned and dropped off their drinks. Charlotte took a sip and said, "Yep, this is definitely on my new favorites list." Jervis followed suit and agreed.

After a couple of silent minutes of drinking, Charlotte twirled her hair and smiled, "I didn't think I'd say this, but I'm glad I went to the club you performed at."

"I'm glad you decided to come," Jervis said.

"Well…" Charlotte laughed, "…I didn't exactly _decide_ to come, more like I was _dragged_ there."

Jervis laughed, "You decided to talk to me in the elevator."

"I was trapped and being nice," she said, playfully.

"Is that so?" Jervis asked, "So you were simply being polite when you invited me here and nearly invited me into your home?"

Charlotte looked down, "Okay, maybe you should feel a little bit special." Her phone started to ring. She looked at it and groaned, "I'm sorry, it's Roxie. It's probably nothing, but I should take it just in case."

"Of course," he said, motioning his arm away.

She got up and flipped open her phone, "This better be important."

Roxanne's shrill voice cooed, "So how's the daaate going?"

"Oh my god, you did _not_ call me just to ask me that," Charlotte hissed into the phone.

"It must be going well if you don't want me to call ya," Roxanne laughed.

Charlotte sighed, "He's great, okay? A great _friend_. Is that what you wanted to hear? Nothing's wrong, I don't have any drama to spill to you."

"Hey, that's good!" Roxanne said, "It's better than last time I called you during a date and you had me pretend to be your mom needing you to hurry home for a family emergency."

Charlotte snickered thinking about that date, "Oh jeez, that was so awful. But seriously, I have to go…and it's _not_ a date." She hung up abruptly and walked back over to the table.

"So sorry about that, she's a bit needy," Charlotte said, "I'll put my phone on silent now. It's funny, she reminded me of this time when—"

"Did you see him gawking at you when you got up?" Jervis asked, staring at the waiter lounging outside.

Charlotte felt caught off guard and looked out the window, "Nooo, why? I don't think he meant anything by it if he did, but—"

"Excuse me for a moment," he said, getting up and walking outside to where the waiter was smoking.

Charlotte stared, confused, as Jervis motioned for the waiter to walk with him. The two disappeared around the corner and she sat, anxiously. _What the hell?_ She finished her drink quickly and fidgeted in her seat. After a few minutes, Jervis strolled back in, calmly.

"Good news. He said the drinks are on him for the confusion," Jervis said, looking around, "Since you're finished, do you want to go for a walk?"

Charlotte felt a sick feeling in her stomach but couldn't explain to herself why. "Sure," she simply said and got up. Maybe it was the randomness of the request or the lack of explanation for what just happened, but something felt…off. Regardless, she let him lead her out the door and down the street.

The sun finished going down as the two walked around. Jervis put her mind at ease by going back to casually conversing with subtle compliments mixed in. She asked him more questions about his life, but continued to get short, vague answers. Being a decently reserved person herself, she didn't think much of it and instead felt even more connected to him since he was giving her any information at all.

"Do you dance?" he asked.

Charlotte laughed anxiously, "Could you picture me dancing in a crowd of people?"

He smiled, "I didn't say it had to be in a crowd."

"Well, regardless, no," Charlotte said, "I never have, but always kind of wanted to. If I were more social and impulsive, I'd take a dance class. I'm sure I could find a few studios but going out and trying new things isn't something I've really cared to do."

Jervis stopped and extended his hand, "Shall we?"

"Now?" Charlotte smirked, "Like, right here in the street?"

"Yes," he said, looking straight into her eyes, "Don't make me beg."

She felt her heart pound out of her chest.

"I'm going to make you look stupid," she insisted.

"I'm not scared," he said, stepping forward.

He took her hand and put it on his shoulder.

"Now give me your other hand," he said.

She listened to him and he started to lead her. The two moved around the street and those who walked by stared. Charlotte felt uncomfortable due to the attention at first, but Jervis seemed to not even notice. Soon, her nerves subsided and she felt as though they were the only two people in the world.

"I've got to say, I didn't expect this," she said, following his lead.

He looked away, "I'm sure there are a lot of things about me you wouldn't expect."

"If they're anything like this," Charlotte smiled, "I think I'll be alright with finding out more."

"We'll see," he said, spinning her out away from him.

Charlotte laughed, "Why do you sound so unsure if you're not scared, Jervis?"

He spun her back in so she was pressed against his chest and looked her in the eyes, "I'm not."

She held her breath and felt his heart beating just as fast as hers. Jervis let her go and said, "There's your first dance lesson."

"Oh…" she quietly teased, "...so there will be a next time?"

He leaned in and whispered, "Don't use my words against me."

She inhaled sharply, and he let out a low chuckle.

"Let me take you home," he said.

"I mean," she paused, "Roxanne expects me back soon, and—"

He ran his fingers through his hair and laughed, "That's what I meant."

Charlotte covered her face with her hands and said in a muffled voice, "Kill me now," feeling mortified.

"I like that I don't have to make you say what's on your mind," he said.

"Just pretend that didn't happen," she begged.

He smirked, "As you wish."

Jervis confirmed on the walk back that Charlotte would still be going to see his show later in the week. Though Jervis did not have a cell phone, Charlotte still told him her phone number in case he needed to reach her. When they got to her door, they both stared at each other for a moment before Jervis reached his hand out. She smiled and took it. He spun her around, smirking back at her.

"Is this going to be a regular thing?" she asked.

Jervis confidently answered, "Yes, absolutely. I'll be in touch before Friday."

"Stop by anytime…" Charlotte said, "…and thank you for tonight."


	4. Chapter 4: Next Lesson

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday all slowly passed without one word from the mysterious hypnotist. Charlotte checked the door frequently for any missed notes, but none came. She took Roxanne to the Sirens club Friday night, but one of the men at the door said Jervis never showed up. By Saturday morning, she felt distraught. The night before, she fell asleep on the couch, waiting for a knock at the door, a letter, something…but not even a small noise was made. She was still on the couch despite it being 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

"Are you seriously still waiting on Magic Man?" Roxanne asked, walking into the kitchen to grab a snack.

Charlotte stared at the door and blandly answered with, "Yeah. I am."

Roxanne turned from the pantry, "What, no banter? I thought he wasn't even a da—"

"Not now, Roxanne. Seriously," Charlotte said, feeling her throat hitch.

After grabbing a bag of chips, Roxanne walked over and sat next to Charlotte on the couch. "Look, I'm sorry…I'm just tryin' to make you feel better…"

"I know," Charlotte said, quickly wiping under her eyes, "Don't worry about it, I'm just being stupid."

"Are you really upset? I didn't mean to make it worse," Roxanne said, "Do you still want to go out tonight?"

"No," Charlotte said, "It doesn't matter, seriously. Like I said, I'm just being stupid."

"You know you can talk to me," Roxanne said, putting her hand on Charlotte's shoulder.

Charlotte shrugged, "It's fine. It's not that big of a deal. He's just—" she looked down and put her face in her hands.

"Honey, shhh, don't let some dumb man make you cry," Roxanne said, wrapping her arms around Charlotte, "You're way too good for him anyway."

"You're just saying that," Charlotte whined, her voice muffled by Roxanne's shirt, "and it wasn't a date, goddammit!"

"At least consider going out with me tonight," Roxanne said, "I think it'd be good to get your mind off of this and meet some new people."

Charlotte groaned, "I _hate_ new people!"

A knock quickly hit the door. Charlotte looked up quickly, but Roxanne stopped her from getting up, "No, if this is him, he doesn't deserve to just waltz right in after ghosting you." She marched up to the door and swung it open, "What?" Her tone immediately shifted suddenly, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, come on in."

"Who is it?" Charlotte called, as a man stepped through the door, holding up his badge.

"I'm Detective Gordon, GCPD. Which one of you is Charlotte?" the man asked.

Charlotte cleared her throat and sat up straight, "I am. Why?"

He looked back and forth at her watery eyes and said, pulling out a photograph, "I'm sorry if this is a bad time, but I feel it's urgent. Have you been in contact with this man recently?"

Charlotte grabbed the photo, "Roxanne, can you excuse us?"

Roxanne nodded, concerned, and went into her room.

"I know _of_ him, yes," Charlotte said.

Jim sat down next to her, "Do you know where he is?"

"Why?" she snapped.

"I can't say much about it, but I need to talk to him," he said.

She felt a chill crawl up her spine. Of course, she knew it was only right to comply with the police, but she got the feeling that she should try to find Jervis before talking about him. If he was involved in something, she certainly didn't want to be dragged into it. "I don't really know him, sorry. I talked to him at his show last weekend, and…" her voice trailed off as she locked eyes with Jim and recognized him, "…have I seen you before?" she asked.

"I get around in Gotham and do a lot of work, so probably," Jim said, "So you have nothing to do with him?"

"No," Charlotte insisted.

"Alright," Jim said, locking his eyes on her, "I just have reason to believe that you have been in contact with him recently. I have a few witnesses that say they saw you with him a few nights ago at a coffee shop around the corner."

"I'm sorry," she said, "You must be mistaking me for someone else."

Jim stared at her skeptically, and extended his hand, "Thank you for your time. I'll be in touch if I have any more questions."

She took his hand and said, "Of course, detective," then walked him to the door. After it shut, she took a few deep breaths.

Roxanne poked her head out of her room, "Is it safe to come out?"

"Yeah," Charlotte said, in shock.

"What the hell was that about?" Roxanne asked, walking back to the couch.

"He said he was looking for Jervis, but wouldn't say why," Charlotte said, sitting down.

Roxanne bit her lip, "That doesn't sound good."

"I don't know," Charlotte said, "He was acting weird and I couldn't really get a feel on why he was looking for Jervis…I think I'm going to try to find him."

"What?" Roxanne said, "We just talked about how you're better than he is!"

"I know, I know…" Charlotte said, "…but now I'm worried about him."

Roxanne threw her head back and let out an over-exaggerated groan, "And you say I let people influence my emotions too much!"

"Whatever," Charlotte said, "I really think something must be wrong if a detective is looking for him. Jervis said something about being in town to visit his sister. Maybe she was in a car wreck or something. I have to find him."

Despite protesting from Roxanne, she got up and walked to her room. She rummaged through her closet and settled on a pair of nice jeans with a plain black t-shirt then threw a trench coat on top of it. After lacing up a pair of boots, she decided to head out.

Roxanne told Charlotte to be careful and asked one more time for her to stay, but she went straight out the door. She was determined to figure out what was going on. Her heart pounded as she walked up and down numerous streets, in and out of buildings. She told herself to calm down and reminded herself that she didn't know him that well, and he could very well be in legal trouble. Earlier in the day she had been crying over him, but now the sadness was replaced with confusion and concern.

When she was back on her side of town, she decided to stop into her usual café to look for her waiter from Monday. She didn't spot him immediately, so she walked up to a baritsta she recognized who was brewing coffee, "Hey, Amber…I know this is kind of a weird question, but is the tall waiter with really light blonde hair here today?"

Amber shook her head, "Brandon hasn't been in since Monday. He didn't even finish his shift, he just kind of left. I know he always talked about travelling, so maybe he finally decided to up and leave."

A sick feeling started to form in the pit of Charlotte's stomach and she asked, "Wait, so, he just left Monday? He didn't say anything to anyone?"

"No, sorry. I wasn't even here that day, but I heard he said he was going on a smoke break then just left," Amber said.

Charlotte's heart started to pound, and she forced out a, "Thank you."

After hurrying out of the café, she rounded the corner and hurried into the alleyway where she let herself collapse onto the ground. She always had a natural tendency for thinking of the worst-case-scenario and now her mind was only filled with awful pseudo-realizations.

She shook her head after a few minutes of racing thoughts. _No. That's ridiculous. He's a hypnotist, not a murderer. Relax._ She got up, brushed herself off, and started to walk towards the nicer part of Gotham. Her legs ached due to searching for a couple of hours and the sun started to set. There was one place left that could lead her to Jervis, and it was time for her to drop her pride.

* * *

"Look, like I said, I just need to talk to Barbara Kean," Charlotte said to the security guard.

"Sorry. Every guest has to pay to get in," he said.

She groaned, "I don't _want_ to get in, I _want_ to talk to Barbara!"

Clearly making a scene had paid off, because she saw Barbara look over from across the room. Charlotte motioned frantically for her to come over. Barbara gave her a weirded out look, but started to walk over hesitantly.

"Sorry, boss, she keeps insisting that she needs to talk to you," the guard said.

Barbara stared, "Normally we enforce dress code, but if it's so urgent…" she sighed, "…let her in, I guess."

"Thank you," Charlotte said, pushing past the guard.

Barbara led her to an office area and shut the door. "I've seen you here a couple of times now. You're the one who always just sits at my bar instead of socializing. Why are you here this time?"

"I need your help," Charlotte said, "I'm looking for Jervis Tetch."

"Even if I know where he is, tell why should I help you?" Barbara asked.

 _Can she just do one nice thing for me?_ "I don't really have a reason, okay? Look, if you're not going to help me, that's fine, but I was hoping to find him because today Detective Gordon or something came over and—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Barbara said, putting up a finger, "Jim Gordon?"

"I don't know his first name. Why, you know him?" Charlotte asked.

Barbara laughed, "You could say that. What did he want?"

Charlotte stuttered out, "I-I don't know…he just…he was looking for Jervis. That's all I know."

"Well, for the sake of fun, I'll tell you where I last heard Jervis was seen," Barbara said.

 _The sake of fun? This chick is weird._ "Okay, I'd appreciate that," Charlotte said.

"Last I heard he was looking through old warehouses just a few blocks north of here. That should narrow it down…" Barbara smiled, "…and I hope you find him before Jim does."

Charlotte nodded and decided to get out of there as soon as possible. After leaving the club, she headed straight for where Barbara said Jervis might be. She looked down at her phone and saw a text from Roxanne that read: "Find him yet?"

After she started to type, "Not yet, but I have an idea," she turned a corner and ran straight into someone. "Jervis?"

He looked taken aback, "Charlotte?"

Charlotte shook her head, "I-I don't know what to say. I went to the club last night and you weren't there. Then this morning, a detective showed up looking for you."

His face changed, "A detective?"

"Yeah, some guy named Jim Gordon was looking for you. He wouldn't tell me why, but…" she trailed off, thinking about the Brandon boy from the café.

Jervis looked concerned, "Well, my dear, go on. What did you tell him?"

"Honestly? You completely ditched me," she said, crossing her arms, "I told him I don't know you."

He looked around, "We should be talking about this somewhere private. Come with me." He led her down the street and into an old warehouse. Charlotte started to feel concerned but didn't want to protest.

When they turned into a run-down office area, he sat down on one of the desks and motioned for her to sit next to him. "The reason I was unable to attend my show and have been distant is because I'm going through a hard time…" he took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair, "…you see…that detective you spoke to…he killed my sister, Alice, the night after I met with you."

Her eyes widened, "H-He what?" She immediately felt awful for ever assuming that Jervis had done something wrong.

"James Gordon is a murderer and a corrupt cop, like most of the GCPD," Jervis said, looking at her, "and my sister is gone because of him."

 _No wonder Barbara doesn't like Jim._ She put her hand on his arm, "I'm so, so sorry, Jervis."

He looked away into the distance of the large room, "He'll learn soon enough what a poor mistake that was."

"Is there anything I can do?" she asked.

"I'd like to spend more time with you…" he paused, "…but we can't be in public. You see, it's my word against a police officer's, and he's trying to say I killed my own sister."

Charlotte shook her head, "Roxie always said that the police were awful here. I'm so sorry. Do you need a place to stay?"

"No, no, I found a place soon after moving here," he said, "I'm quite fine, honestly, but if James bothers you any more, you're welcome to stay with me. It's quite spacious."

"I…" she was about to turn the offer down when she felt her face flush, "…I might…I might actually take you up on that."

Her nudged her shoulder playfully with his, "I assumed so, since you almost accepted the invitation when you believed I was extending it on Monday night."

Her face started to burn even brighter, "Y-You said you'd pretend that didn't happen."

"Don't be so ashamed," he laughed, "I'm simply choosing to remember it as a compliment."

Charlotte smiled at her feet and the two sat in silence for a while until Jervis broke it with, "I think it's time for your next lesson, don't you?"


	5. Chapter 5: No One is Normal

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you just want to dance with me," Charlotte said.

Jervis shrugged, "What's your point?" He stood up and extended his hand to her.

"I mean…I don't know." She felt her face flush as she took his hand, "That's not the answer I was expecting."

He pulled her up from where she was sitting and twirled her around, "What did you expect?"

"You're just so…open sometimes…" she said, "…yet I feel like in other ways you're really closed off."

"I have people give away so much, so easily to me. I like to keep most everything to myself," he said, "While others may not have a choice, I know I do."

"Do they really not have a choice? I've always seen hypnosis as extreme…" she thought for a second, "…I don't know, really…persuasion? Maybe like acting or something? I once had a college professor describe people who allegedly get hypnotized as just subconsciously wanting it to be real so badly that they end up playing along. I've always been a bit of a skeptic."

"I can make anyone do anything," he said, dipping her, "I can make people do the impossible."

"Oh yeah? Is that how you got me to say yes to getting walked home the night we met?" she asked, trying not to laugh.

He looked concerned, "No. I wouldn't have done that."

"Mhmm, sure," she teased, "So how does it work? You can make people do _anything_ -anything?"

"Everyone has deep desires they already wanted to fulfill, so in a way, yes. To some degree, your professor was right, but it's still different…" he said, trailing off, "…I don't exactly care to talk about it."

"You should show me some time," she said, "Just make sure to give me warning or some—"

"It's not up for discussion," he interrupted, sternly, "You don't really want me to do that."

She felt her brows furrow, confused, "Okay..? I don't get why it matters so much, but…"

He let go of her and stepped back.

"Why are you acting so defensive? This is completely out of nowhere, Jervis." She stepped forward and reached out her hand to touch his arm.

"I can't do this," he said, moving away, "This was a mistake. I apologize for bringing you here."

She felt her heart drop, "I…I thought…First I couldn't find you, and now…"

He looked away, "I should go." He started to back away towards an exit.

"Jervis, don't do this," she pleaded, "Whatever you're dealing with, whatever's going on, I promise you can talk to me…"

"You have no idea…" he said, shaking his head.

She felt her eyes starting to water. "Then _tell_ me! _Talk_ to me!" she shouted, "I hate talking to people, but I tried _so_ hard with you! **_For_ **you!" _Pull yourself together, sis, you only spent time with him twice._

He put his hand on the door, "I wish you well, my dear. Maybe one day we will meet again."

She ran after him as he escaped the building. When she got outside and looked around, he was gone. "You can't run from me, Jervis!" she yelled into the night, "You can't do this to me!" She ducked through a few alleyways and ran up and down many streets, shouting his name until she saw a flashlight shine brightly on her.

"Charlotte?"

She turned around and squinted into the light. "Detective..? Is that you..?"

He slowly lowered his flashlight from his face. "Charlotte, we need to talk…I thought you said you don't know Jervis Tetch."

"I…I…" she saw his free hand slowly move behind him and she started to feel her heartbeat in the side of her neck.

"Charlotte..." he moved his hand back around, "…I'm going to need you to come with me…"

As her eyes adjusted even more, she made out a pair of handcuffs in his hand. She started backing up as he slowly moved towards her and continued, "…I just want to talk…I need you to coopera—"

She had backed up onto the intersection of another street and decided to make a run for it. Immediately, she heard Jim's footsteps close behind her.

"It doesn't have to be this way!" he called after her, "I don't want to shoot! Stop!"

Her breathing was starting to get heavier as she heard gunshots start to go off. When she turned a corner, someone pulled her into a doorway and a hand was put over her mouth. She squirmed as she saw Jim run past her. When his footsteps were gone, she was let go and yelled, "What the hell is wrong with you? I—" she turned around and saw a man with white hair and a white suit.

"Oh my god…" she whispered to herself, as she backed up.

"I have a message for you. Follow me. I have a message for you. Follow me. I have a message for you. Follow me," he kept repeating himself and moving towards her. She started to feel more and more freaked out.

When she backed into the wall on the other side of the alley, she ran towards where she originally came from and started to head to her condo. She didn't even look around for Jim when she crossed streets. _Jervis, what have you gotten me into?_

* * *

When she got to her apartment, she sprinted up the stairs to save time then rushed through the door.

Roxanne jumped, "Charlotte, where—"

"I have to get out of here, Roxanne! I have to go!" she frantically said, rushing past her and into her room.

Roxanne rushed after her, weirded out, "Did you find Jerv—"

"I have to go! I have to get out of here!" Charlotte kept repeating, stuffing one of her bags with clothes.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Roxanne asked, "Should I call Detective Gor—"

Charlotte stopped and laughed hysterically, "No…nononono no…"

Roxanne backed away and went into the kitchen. Charlotte threw off her clothes and put on a fresh set. She started to stuff her bag filled with as many more things that she could fit when she heard a pounding on the main door. Her heart dropped and she sprinted over to her bedroom door to shut and lock it. She heard Roxanne open the door and Jim force his way in, saying he needed to find her.

Charlotte slung her bag over her shoulder, frantically looked around, then remembered that there was a fire escape outside of her window. She started to hear a pounding on her bedroom door.

"Charlotte, I know you're in there! Open the door!" Jim shouted. "I'm about to bust it down, open the door!" He pounded on the door some more before saying, "Okay, I'm coming in!" The door broke down easily but when he searched her bedroom and bathroom, she was gone.

* * *

She jumped off of the bottom steps of the fire escape and ran. Much sooner than she anticipated, she heard Jim shouting her name. After rounding a corner, she stopped and locked eyes with him from across the road. She turned and started to run down the street.

"Stop! I'll shoot!" Jim yelled. She heard a gunshot ring in her ears and screamed as the bullet flew past her head.

Jervis came out from the shadows, pushed her out of the way and onto the ground, then held up his watch. "James, listen…"

She stared, shocked as Jim immediately stop.

Jervis smiled, "…listen to the watch…Now, I'm going to need you to put the gun down and kick it over to me…if you do that…I'll end your misery…and we both know that's what you really, _really_ want."

Jim slowly put the gun on the ground, then lightly kicked it over to Jervis. Charlotte's eyes widened in amazement.

"Good," Jervis said, picking up the gun. He pointed it at Jim and cocked it.

"No! Stop!" Charlotte yelled, getting up and grabbing his arm.

Ignoring her, Jervis smiled at Jim, "I have bigger plans for you soon, and no one but me is immune." He put the gun in his coat pocket, "Go home, James. Oh, and do me a favor…Forget this ever happened." Jim slowly turned and walked away into the darkness.

"What…What are you?" Charlotte asked, stepping away from Jervis.

"I'm a savior for some…a living nightmare for most…" he said, turning towards her, "…but most importantly, I'm the reason you're alive right now."

"Wh-What just happened?" she stuttered out.

He stepped towards her, "You said you wanted to see what I do…to understand it. _This_ is what I do."

She put her hands up and whispered, "Please don't hurt me."

"I was worried this would happen," he said, looking away, "I've never wanted to hurt you."

"How am I supposed to believe you?" she asked, shaking her head.

"For lack of a better reason," he said, "you should know now if I wanted to, I could have and would have by now. I promise I don't want to hurt you. This is why I told you to stay away."

"Well, clearly, you were following me," she said, annoyed.

He took another step towards her, "When my messenger failed to reach you, I—"

"Your _messenger?_ ," she spat out, "The _freak_ in _white_ is your _messenger?_ You're crazy!"

"Don't say that," he said through gritted teeth, shaking his head.

She started laughing hysterically, "Of course you're crazy! And to think I actually enjoyed being around you!"

He closed his eyes, letting everything sink in, " **Please** don't say that."

"You led me on, pushed me away, had some freak grab me off the street, and just almost shot a police officer after doing some mind-control-thing! Tell me why I should listen to you right now!" she demanded.

"You said you would accept me, talk to me," he said, distraught, "Just give me a chance to explain. I need you to calm down."

She took a few deep breaths and sat down on her bag. "I'm just in shock right now," she said, "This is Gotham, I don't know why I expected you to be normal."

"No one is normal, darling, so I don't know what you expected," he said, looking down at her.

"For you to not be able to fully control others and for you to not try to kill people…" she anxiously looked up, "You…You pointed that gun at Detective Gordon so…easily…oh god, Jervis, you _did_ kill your sister, didn't you? Not Gordon, _you!_ "

"No!" he insisted, "I loved Alice, I would have never done anything to hurt her! I promise that is true. I meant it when I said it was the fault of James Gordon."

"Oh god…oh god…" she kept repeating into her hands, "…and now I'm involved…oh god…"

"Come with me...please," he asked, "I promise you'll be kept safe."

"I don't know what to do," she said frantically, looking away, "Jervis, I have no idea what to say to you. I don't want to be involved with whatever sketchy shit you're involved in, but I feel like if I say no, you'll just force me into it."

"I would never do that to you," he said, shaking his head, "I want you to spend time with me, no hypnosis needed. I was starting to think that that's been what you have wanted, too. You just said yourself that you were starting to—"

"Don't," she said, shaking, "Don't say it. That was before I found out who you are."

"I never pretended to be someone else around you, Charlotte," he said, extending a hand, "Now please…let me take you home."

"Yeah, well, you screwed that up for me too," she laughed, "I can't go back. The police will be looking for me the second Detective Gordon mentions that I ran from him."

"This time I did mean _my_ home," he said moving his hand around.

She slowly looked up and grabbed his hand, reluctantly. "Are you going to kill me?" she asked, as he pulled her up.

He backed her into the wall and leaned his forehead against hers, "I would never hurt you." He pulled out Jim's gun from his pocket, shoved it into her hand, and forced her hand up to his head so the barrel was touching his temple. "It's loaded in case you don't believe me."

She looked deep into his eyes with her finger on the trigger. _Do it. Don't do it. Do it._ After a minute of silence, he let go of her hand and she threw the gun to the side. "Fine…as much as I don't want to, I'll go. No hypnosis needed."


	6. Chapter 6: Show Me What You've Got

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the point where the story changes. As my older followers know, this is a re-write. This story used to be about twenty chapters long until I scrapped it. I've tried to re-write it as it was for months now...and just couldn't get behind it. While everyone from the show was in-character, I didn't like my OC very much. I found her to be way too intelligent to swoon over a murderer so easily. The story started to feel rushed and juvenile. While I kept the first five chapters for nostalgia's sake (and because it would be a new story entirely instead of a re-write if I hadn't), the story splits off from here. I think you all will like this more than the sappy romance it once was. This is the more realistic, darker version of its draft self. Enjoy! I'm sorry for taking a year to update, but now that I've gone with a different path, I am back to enjoying writing. Love you guys! I'll update much sooner now.**

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"Brilliant," he smirked, taking a step back and extended his arm towards her.

Charlotte stared at him and scoffed. "Seriously?"

His expression stayed intense, serious.

She refused to touch him, but stepped up to walk alongside him. He led her in silence until they got to a part of town she no longer recognized. The buildings looked much nicer than in her part of town. _Is this where he lives? I've never even been around here._

When they got in front of a gated home, Jervis pulled away and stood in front of her, "Do you trust me?"

"No," she said, crossing her arms, "but do I really have a choice?"

"Yes. I refuse to force you into anything, and I know now that you must believe me," he said, "I don't want you to come into my home if you won't feel comfortable doing so."

She sighed and looked up at him. His face was illuminated by a mix of the full moon and a nearby street lamp. For a moment she just stared and saw the genuine concern on his face. Despite all that had happened, it couldn't change how alluring he looked in the moonlight. "I don't trust you…but I'll consent to going in with you."

"Then welcome home," he said, motioning towards the building, "You can stay here as long as you feel the need to." He led through the gate and up the steps before unlocking the door.

When he got in, he turned on a lamp. Charlotte looked around, soaking in the structure, " _This_ is where you're staying?"

His eyes lit up. "Do you like it? I'm quite fond of my choice."

She took her bag off and started walking around the room, "It's beautiful."

"As I said, you are welcome to stay however long you'd like," he said, turning on a few more lamps down the hallway, "I can't say I ever expected to have guests, so I didn't seek out a place I assumed would have more than one bedroom. You can stay there, of course. There is a second bedroom, but it's been converted into an office."

"I'm not comfortable taking over your room. I mean, it's not…" she trailed off, standing by the fireplace and grabbing a picture of two strangers together, "…Jervis…don't tell me you—"

"Then I suggest not asking," he interrupted, grabbing the photo out of her hand. He put it, along with another picture frame, in a drawer. "Again, I wasn't expecting guests. I would have…cleaned up a bit if I would've known I'd be having you over so soon. I apologize if you are uncomfortable."

She took a deep breath, "If I'm being honest? I feel trapped. I'm extremely uncomfortable…but, like I said, I don't have anywhere else to go."

"I need you to know I never intended for you to get dragged into this," he took a step forward, "I didn't really intend to spend as much time with you as I have. Your disinterest in me intrigued me and then you continued to draw me in."

"I believe you," she said, examining his face, "It was harder for me to earlier, but I don't think you ever meant to scare me off."

He shook his head, "Never."

"Good…" she looked towards the stairs, "…can I take a shower now?"

"Yes, of course, follow me," he said, heading towards the stairs and grabbing her bag. He took her into the bedroom and pointed towards a door, "That's where the larger of the two showers is, and the closet is in there as well if you want to go ahead and hang any of your clothes up. It's spacious."

She nodded, "I'll be down soon."

"Hopefully I'm not in too much trouble," he smiled.

She was not amused, "Just wait for me downstairs."

He walked out, closing the door behind him. Charlotte walked into the bathroom and turned on the light. "Oh wow." She spun around on the marble flooring. The bath had jets on the sides and the shower was a large room in itself. She turned on the shower, tied her hair up, and peeled off her clothes. The shower felt like a massage on her body and she had to remind herself that she promised she wouldn't take long.

After cleaning up, she got out and dried off. She wiped the steam off of the mirror and stared at herself. _What the hell am I doing here? There's still time to go to the police._ _I could always say he forced me to come here. I could even claim Stockholm Syndrome…maybe I actually do have Stockholm Syndrome…the fact that I came here on my own accord is questionable at best…but the police don't have to know that._

She finally slipped on some shorts and a tank top, then threw a robe on top of all of it. After a lot of hesitation, she went downstairs and sat on one of the couches.

Tetch sat on the one across from her and said, "Now don't make me wait any longer. What are we going to discuss?"

"Well…" she said, looking over at the fire, "…it appears we're both wanted now. I've always worked from home, so that's not an issue, but I expect you to not go out and put yourself in a…situation…especially not when every move you make could lead back to this location. What you do on your own time usually wouldn't be of interest to me, but I don't need the police breaking down the door to then find me here."

"What makes you think I would do something like that?" he said, smirking.

She turned to face him, "Your bloodlust. Your taste for the extreme. That gleam in your eyes."

He scoffed and stared at her. The way the light from the flames danced across his was mesmerizing. He took off his jacket and hat then rolled up his sleeves. Charlotte watched his every move and felt herself breathing heavier. He ran his fingers through his hair, then looked up and smiled, "What?"

She sighed, "I'm confused and frustrated. Academically, I should be qualified to handle this situation. Emotionally, I'm not so sure. I almost feel…hypnotized."

He laughed quietly, then licked his lips and said, "Almost." The way he ran his tongue over his lips made her forget how to breathe.

"Stop that," she said, looking away.

"Stop what?" he asked, smiling, "I'm just sitting here."

"No, you're not! You're getting inside of my head," she insisted.

He leaned forward, simpering, "Is that so?"

"Yes," she said, looking away, "but you already know that. You aren't the first patient I've had like this."

He scoffed, "Patient? My dear, I went from a date to your patient?" When she refused to look at him, he continued, "…and what do you mean _like this_?"

"Like you…" she growled, "…like a sociopath. The only difference is your manipulation appears to actually be some form of mind control, and not just from gaslighting and isolation."

"It's not exactly that easy, though I do appreciate your faith in what I do. If I'm getting inside of your head, that's entirely your doing," he said, amused, "What are you thinking right now?"

"I…" she locked eyes with him, "…I think I should get to bed before you cause me to do something I could regret tomorrow." Her heart started to steady. _Why do I feel so…drawn to him? Just a minute ago, I was thinking about going to the police. I need to be stronger than his hypnotic charm._

"If blaming me makes you feel better, then by all means," he laughed, "but do tell me what qualifies as doing something regrettable."

"Yeah…" she muttered, looking away, "…well, I'm not in the mood to play games with you, Jervis."

"Am I to assume everything myself?" He got up and walked behind the couch she was on.

Shaking, she quietly forced out, "I guess you'll have to." He put his hands on her shoulders and she felt a shiver run down her spine.

"Oh, darling…" he leaned in and whispered in her ear, "…I don't think you want me to do that."

She inhaled quickly, stood up, and spun around. "You're a murderer. A psychopath. You're going to have to be a lot more persuasive than that to get under my skin after everything."

He leaned forward, placing his hands on the back of the couch, "We'll see about that."

She started to say something but realized how right he was. Instead, she rushed past him and ran up the stairs. He didn't bother to follow, and she heard him laugh from the living room. She grabbed her bag from the master bedroom and rushed into the office space. When she shut the door, she quickly locked it and fell to the ground. She tried to catch her breath from trying to not seem phased by him. When she got up, she felt how much her legs were shaking. She threw off the robe and paced back and forth, trying to collect herself. _Just look at him like he's a patient. Even if a patient is manipulative and attractive, you can't lose your professionalism or cross that doctor-patient line. Try to focus. You're stronger than this. You're a trained professional. Come on._

A knock at the door made her jump out of her own thoughts. She took a deep breath and tried to let out an unphased, "What?"

"I wasn't done talking," she heard the voice through the door reply.

She walked to the door, unlocked it, and opened it a crack, "What do you want, Jervis?"

"To talk," he smiled, "Is that too much to ask?"

"I don't want to talk to you right now," she said, "not if you're going to use me as target practice for your little mind control powers."

He pushed the door open and leaned against the doorframe, "Oh, come now…I should be no match for a _trained professional_ such as yourself."

She felt a chill crawl up her spine. _How did he know?_ Bits of anger started to wash over her, "To think I liked you…you know what? Fine. You want a session? I'll give you one. Show me what you've got."

A devilish smirk crossed his face, "Very well then."

 _What have I done?_


End file.
